My Definition Of SEO and How The Death Will Play Out

A few days ago I wrote about how SEO has no future. There were a lot of people who agreed and then a lot of confused people. After writing the post I thought for a bit perhaps even I was confused about what exactly SEO is. So I decided to ask all the leading SEO experts what their definition of SEO is. Basically everyone is on the same page as me (or I as them) that SEO is the human interaction with a website that makes it rank than it naturally would have. Yes that is a huge broad definition… I know.

Lets take a step back. Back in the days of altavista and webcrawler it was pretty much a spamfest. Until one day this pretty badass search engine came out named Google.

Google’s mission has always been to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. Back in the early days Google claimed that there was no such thing as spam in their search engine index and if there ever was then its algorithm had failed. Then one day Google found itself very very deep in spam. Also legitimate mom and pops had no chance against the spammers who were back in action kicking Google’s butt just like they had done to every search engine before.

Google needed help. They needed a hero. It was now in their best business interest to let humans influence their search engine. Give them a bit of help on how they can better crawl their sites. Enter GoogleGuy. Google appointed a person dubbed GoogleGuy to police the forums and social sites like Slashdot and help the legitimate webmasters (in Google’s opinion) rank better in Google by the use of SEO. This worked pretty well and Google saw quite a business value in allowing humans to influence their algorithm. The only problem for Google was that this was not a long term solution.

Enter the Toolbar. This was (in my opinion) the single biggest thing that Google did to improve their search engine and they obviously saw value in it. They were paying people 1$ per install to keep track of what they were doing on the internet. Not to mention the half billion dollar deal with Firefox. With the toolbar they could tell exactly where users are going and there experiences with those websites. This mixed with Google Analytics (another awesome service) and they are getting much more valuable data about the websites.

The start of the death of SEO:

As Google started getting more and more data on sites the need for webmasters to help them greatly decreased. This Googleguy disappeared from forums but about the same time a engineer from Google named Matt Cutts appeared. His blog soon became the voice of the Google search team and instead of really giving tips and answering questions he laid down the law. In particular to paid links and paid reviews as well as other items which make Google look stupid.

The death of SEO is not going to happen overnight but it is close. I personally believe that Google will achieve their original goals and not allow humans to influence its algorithms. I know it sounds like SEO… well actually the definitions are the same thing. The difference between SEO and spam is what Google allows. There is no future in SEO and we will very soon all go back to being spammers. There is no black or white there is only SEO.

So what is the future on how sites will rank? I personally believe AdWords will be your entry point so that Google can get data on users experiences for key phrases then rank you organically accordingly. That seems to make sense.

101 Comments

James

Shoe at first I thought the seo series was linkbait but you make a lot of sense. Great post. Not many are willing to put out their thoughts like this.

May 15, 2008

ultima

Sorry trying to read all this I am soooo confused lol. I have a question on for example I play a game called ultima online. When I type in say uo gold on google some of the sites are very new and I dont see how in the heck they are up at the top of google. Especially when I see http://www.searchuo.com (the most used site in ultima online) further below them. Can anyone answer this?

October 10, 2008

Kevin

Yeah its really easy, its because searchuo sucks and its not the best website for Ultima Online, http://finduo.com is.

November 16, 2008

Leo

Kevin is probably right, finduo is probably used more than searchuo, but to be honest the reason why other websites rank higher is because frankly they are actually the ones who sell uo gold more and have been for a while. their focus is on selling uo gold, ie websites like http://www.leogaming.com. so google probably getting it right. on that particular keyword

December 18, 2008

Ian

Google (and all other engines) will always rank sites based on some sort of criteria. Finding out the general guidelines and methods behind that criteria will always be possible through research and testing.

Once you have a fairly solid idea of what the search engines are looking for, making sure a site performs well in those areas (SEO) will help your search engine exposure. I don’t see how that could ever be done away with completely, to the point where SEO is “dead”.

May 15, 2008

Samir

Shoe do you look at or read every link back you get? How did you find that video?! It has almost no views.

May 15, 2008

Michael D

I don’t know what to call them, but people that are at the top of their game now will continue to to get even better at what they do. I think humans will influence the results of search for a long time to come, but we may have to step back to get a glimpse at their intentions.

Take for example the McLovin ID. Knowing human behavior one could have predicted (when writing the screenplay) the anticipated future online opportunities and incorporated something into the film. It may seem far-fetched, but imagine taking someone like Neil Patel and inviting him in on a review process of the screenplay before its filmed. Words and scenes in the movie could be “optimized” in a way that would result in increased Web traffic and profits when consumers follow through on these predictability patterns.

May 15, 2008

ShoeMoney

nope I have no clue most of the time of linkbacks unless they are trackbacks. And no clue what video you are talking about…

May 15, 2008

Middlesbrough Photographer

I agree. I find it harder and harder to SEO a site, and I can see the day when usage data is 90% of Google’s algorithm. On page factoes and link building will be a thing of the past – generating quality traffic using viral methods will still be important, as will useful content, but SEO as we know it will no longer be around.

And good riddance – If I get another phone call from an SEO company who claims that reciprical linking is the way of the future , I’m gonna kill someone!

mcQ

corey

“I personally believe that Google will achieve their original goals and not allow humans to influence its algorithms.”

so google is only going to rank content that was not created by humans in the future?

May 15, 2008

Theresa

And then all the SEOs will find themselves reincarnated as SEMs with hardly a blip in the action.

May 15, 2008

ShoeMoney

human content creation and human intent to rank sites where they naturally would not is 2 different things.

May 15, 2008

corey

but you can’t stop people from reading the search patents and observing the results pages to see what google likes. if its old domains, then thats what works. if its links and youtube titles then thats what works. google can’t stop that.

May 15, 2008

ShoeMoney

I agree there will always be a future in trying to game/cheat the search engines. It just will not be search engine condoned SEO. As written above… we will all go back to being spammers.

May 15, 2008

Stephan Miller

Anything build in an algorithm can be torn apart the same way. The national ID was hack proof for about 5 minutes. It was impossible to fly to the moon for eons. Never say never.

May 15, 2008

jamieD

Wow this is a great right up. Google’s FUD is whats fueling all the snake oil salesmen SEO’s. The current SEO industry is completely pathetic.

May 15, 2008

ShoeMoney

And I didnt …. again… there will always be a future in gaming the search engines

May 15, 2008

Sean

on the wholistic view of your website by google using analytics,toolbar,adwords, and maybe adsense data and then having that weight the serps…do you have confirmation that they do this or is this educated speculation?

on that Last point around adwords being the entry point…great now we have to pay google to get ranked! 🙂

May 15, 2008

Mike1115

Gaming the search engines is black hat, and that is certainly getting harder and harder, to the point that I can see that dieing. But there are new sites going up all the time by people who don’t know what html is. They would need to SEO their site with the right keywords, headings, link backs and such. So I think you’re just playing with the words here and flipping around black/hat seo and spam. Right now, I think the best way to beat the spam is with what Calacanis is doing with Mahalo.

May 15, 2008

Jagdeep

sorry but i disagree
google will never rank websites the way you say
it would completely rule out the small businessman and any new sites

May 15, 2008

Claye

First of all, kudos for biting into the trendy “controversy is king” concept.

Good article, good definition – I like it – but I am predicting that the opposite is true. SEO isn’t going anywhere, but it will undertake a dramatic transformation if/when search engines move to exclusively using behavioral data in their rankings. Instead of spending time on title tags and content, our role will move to user behavior analysis – optimizing websites to get traffic, increase traffic, and to keep them coming back.

Icheb

Thanks for pointing that out so I don’t have to! I have a feeling all of this “The Death of SEO” is just linkbait because Shoemoney must have come to the same realization.

May 15, 2008

Anthony Shapley

I’m afriad to say that I agree and disagree with parts of your post. You have left many developing things out of your theory. Including Digg & Feedburner. Whilst I do agree that the amount of factors google use to rank a site will increase. The idea of using Adwords is very unlikely. How would a site such as Wikipedia or any free organization get a good ranking? They wouldn’t, they don’t have the cash to.

May 15, 2008

Debo Hobo

Well after reading this post and watching the embedded video I have a clearer understanding of what SEO is. I don’t think SEO will go away it will simply transform…

May 15, 2008

Alex

I understand your premise about google making the decisions about rankings instead of humans, however, this is what was missed: I think SEO will evolve what it is that google finds favorable and people will then optimize for the new standards. if google likes conversions, time on a website, bounces, content, amount of visitors, duration of visitors, etc. Some of the content and layout on the page could be manipulated to get users to take a certain action that would prove positive in google’s eyes and raise their rank. Additionally, SEO may move to other techniques such heavy placement on viral to get the google search results instead of buying links. People will figure out what google likes to see and although it may be more difficult to manipulate, ie changing your title tag, a whole marketing campaing of the future can still be made to increase rankings based on any new standards.

May 15, 2008

80sFilms

I don’t think SEO will go away either. But the practice will evolve in emphasizing some other factor instead of what’s being emphasized now. In the meantime, the list-building model for emails and RSS feeds just got a lot more attractive as a long term business model.

May 15, 2008

Chetan

Whatever Shoe, but i still disagree with your point that SEO has no future.

May 15, 2008

purposeinc

Smart idea.

May 15, 2008

corey

ok, i’m not trying to troll here, but you have to draw a line between what is marketing a website and what is trying to cheat a search engine.

if i have a listing in a local newspaper to promote my website and i included a large bold block of ink that draws attention, it’s marketing the newspaper and no one will call me a cheater for doing it.

if i have a listing in a search engine and i want to draw attention to my listing, i can’t make a big bold bar behind the title, so i do something else within the means of control i have over the listing to draw attention to it. all of a sudden i am a cheater because i am marketing in the search engine.

the actions in both cases are pretty similar. i want effective listings, so i learn about what can be done within the medium to attract the most eyeballs. one place it is marketing, in the other it becomes cheating the system. i don’t agree.

May 15, 2008

Leo Dimilo

Spoken like a true PPC guy. SEO is going nowhere. As long as there is some type of metric to analyze, there will always be SEO. After all, Google will always have to have something to determine who has authority in the SERP’s and once SEOer’s figure it out, then it will be exploited (just like the current fad of getting as many backlinks with the proper anchor text as possible in order to rise in the SE’s)

You do agree that there will always be people who will try to game the SEs, right? Well, those people are the SEO guys….and if and when the algorithm changes, those “SEO” guys that should be dead will do what it takes to rise in the SERPS using the very metrics that google determines to the governing factors of the search world.

May 15, 2008

Chris Edwards

Hey Shoe,
I always love to hear your opinion on this subject. What do you think about how Google indirectly promotes the mission to also keep everything relatively free but not “ad free”? Hence the serps. I don’t think everyone would like having to pay to jump into AdWords to get ranked. Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of keep the Internet neutrality balanced?

May 15, 2008

Rosenstand

Today SEO might be manipulative towards the algorithm, but tomorrow? I guess SEO will be the art of making websites so easily navigated and so user friendly that Google improves their rankings by those terms. Nope – SEO will not die as a profession. It will simply transform into whatever needed. Like any other profession 🙂

May 15, 2008

ShoeMoney

you are actually completely agreeing with me.

May 15, 2008

Sam Daams

Your definition of SEO is missing some words (intentionally?): “Basically everyone is on the same page as me (or I as them) that SEO is the human interaction with a website that makes it rank than it naturally would have”

I’m guessing you wanted to included the word ‘higher’ in there?

Personally I’d define it more along the lines of “makes it rank where it naturally would have”. Ie. have a great site in flash and it won’t rank where it naturally should but with some seo it will.

It’s all semantics anyway but always fun to watch SEO’s go a little nuts – guess you enjoy it too based on your posts. Best thing to worry about is to develop a brand rather than focus on SEO solely. That’s business 101, but unfortunately a lot of SEO got into it because it was so easy for so long and therefore really never looked that far ahead.

May 15, 2008

Todd Mintz

I think you can say “SEO Will Die” and I can respond with “SEO Is / Will Evolve” and we would be both right with how each of us define “SEO”.

May 15, 2008

Monica Livingstone

Really Google is not a small company. They plan the company future very well.

May 15, 2008

Bill D

I think that you’re on the right track here. Google is closing the door as fast as they can (and they’ve got some real muscle behind it), and more and more people are rushing to all get through at once. Market saturation will make what little of traditional SEO that Google allows (and thus is not spam) lose profitability, and fast. They will also get better and better at quietly using real usage data (especially as we all start making our preferences widely known via social media and bookmarking), and they’ll learn quickly how to spot artificial data of this sort. Spam will have to get spammier, and SEO, as it exists today, will split into those who go the true blackhat, spam route and those who concentrate more on producing real content, optimizing it for users, and developing real authority. It will slow the rise of a “mom and pop,” but it won’t kill it as so many fear. The middle ground has already started to fade and separate, and this is going to continue until that gray area that is what we currently think of as “SEO” will be gone.

May 15, 2008

Joe

Shoe,

I always loved the way you put things into writting. I hope the word will sprad so more and more SEO’rs will live the industry for having ” no future” ( and maybe start working on PPC???) while the rest of us SEO’rs will have less competition.

May 15, 2008

Cathlyn

If we didn’t ‘know’ you Jeremy, I’d swear this was written by Jason Calacanis!

May 15, 2008

chuckallied

Let me see if I’m getting this straight, SEO is going to die, because all the current aspects that are SEO in nature will…

A: …be technical hurdles that Google (and the other search engines… wink-wink-cough-cough) can overcome, and can holistically fit into its algorithm no matter the web platform, content form, code, language, etc. Using user data, website modeling, click tracking, IP data, etc actual code differences and computerized schemes will be minimalized and easy for the all seeing eye to flag as SPAM or real human website lovin.

B:… and Google (and those other SEs… keep forgetting about them) will also say, “Tweaking anything as it relates to our secret sauce is defacto spam. So you’re spammers now. Deal. SEOs no longer exist. Please ignore the people that use traffic flow models to increase websites visits or who successfully create targeted ‘visit’ bait, and who are also good at making their listing appear more attractive some how. We do that, and we do it better. Let us manage your AdWords account now. It’s in your best interest.”

Basically, “because I say so.” You’re a new dad, huh?

May 15, 2008

Brick Marketing

Not sure we fully agree as we believe the algorithms will certainly change but SEO dying as a whole seems unlikely. Also, Google would have even more enemies but not allowing any human control.

May 15, 2008

theconcertaholic

I starting Using more SEM talk and methodology a while back versus SEO with clients. Feeling SEO is and will change…
congrats on your visit-my-blog-bait – Thats why we all subscribe to ya

May 15, 2008

Dave

SEO is optimizing for the search algorithm, so as long as their is an algorithm, there will be a need for SEO and there will be a way to game the system. Truth be told, I could care less what’s going on with Matt Cutts, SES, or GoogleGuy. I’ve built million dollar businesses from being at the top of the SERPs. To me, results are what appears in the search listings, not what any google employee says the results are.

SEO is action you can take to influence organic results. And I don’t see how they can ever stop that.

May 15, 2008

Glenn A

So few people in business know how to set up their blogs and do the basic things that attract the search engines. Of the people who come to me, I’d say 80% know nothing about that process and none of them understand it. Then there ‘s production of keyword-targeted content, which is an art in itself. So in those needs alone I see a long life ahead for SEO. Don’t think SEO has to be forever associated with trickery and manipulation.

May 15, 2008

Ze

Excellent post, Shoe! I have that story very clear in my mind, having worked since Infoseek and Altavista. I all but abandoned SEO in 2002 and you summarised the death of SEO perfectly. These days it’s all about marketing, there is little technical SEO to do!

May 15, 2008

Tony

Why would Google change? Apart from constantly tweaking their URL i dont think the SERPS are too far from genuine at the moment. 99/100 i get what i want when i search. Google isn’t going to change anytime soon.

May 15, 2008

Eric Go

I do agree, it is all about going to the right niche.

May 15, 2008

Eric Go

I do agree, in the present it is all about going to the right niche.

May 15, 2008

King

I disagree that SEO will die soon, Google is in too deep and already makes tons of cash out of today’s webmaster through Google Adsense. SEO will evolve through time, but we are talking many years.

May 15, 2008

Dave

Seriously…when google has such a ridiculous market share..you think they are going to tweak to make it better at this point?

May 15, 2008

MyGoodFinds

People who sell professional SEO services don’t want this post being read by their clients.

Businesses will continue to hire ‘SEOs experts’ in hopes of getting in the front page of Google. After SEO experts do the standard keyword analysis/optimization, XML site map, tags tweaking and other stuff, they will resell Adwords and buy back links from bloggers. Google comes in to level the playing field and slash the page ranks of the bloggers. SEOs will then be forced to resell more expensive Adwords and keep a maintenance contract to replenish back-links. It’s a game that calls for persistence and stamina.

Having been paid for “reviews”, I can say that it all comes down to the quality to sell the products. No amount of SEO will make a product have a sustainable future if it sucks big time.

May 15, 2008

Will

Why would we all become spammers? That’s utterly nonsensical and is even more nuts than anything Jason Calacanis has said. Good SEO begins and ends with good content, and I fail to see how that won’t be true in the future. And you haven’t explained why it wouldn’t be–except in vague ways. Say you make the ultimate good piece of content (like your SERPS tool, the strongest subpage on this site). Loads of people will naturally link to it, and it will help the SEO of your entire site. This is going to end in the future how? You’re saying Google isn’t going to care that there are loads of natural links being built to a site and it will refuse to reward it? What in blue hell is your argument?

May 15, 2008

Robert

What can I tell you, I’m just a dumb schuck trying to make money online, and one minute it’s SEO, and I reap the benefits, and the next it’s the dark underbelly of the net, spamming, that beats the crap out of my site on the SERP’s. SEO? I don’t do it anymore. SEM? maybe, I don’t know. Trying to service my customers, probably the most important thing I can do. I made a good site, with good navigation, and good, up to the minute information, and a good product at a decent price. I’m not lying, cheating or stealing, and I tell my customer that I’m trying to make an honest buck. I don’t care about SEO anymore, I care about my customers. Caring for my customers means trying to get more, so I can take care of them as well.

May 15, 2008

Terry Tay

I think you have the right approach. Look after the customers you currently have and eventually more will follow. If you are already providing a decent product and service keep focusing on that.
~Terry

May 15, 2008

Bibokz

Cool, what google want is… you should stick on their guidelines (Google webmasters). That’s SEO according to Matt Cutts.

May 15, 2008

Olga - Used Cheap Laptops

I do not agree with you on this one at all. At the center of SEO is relevant link building, there are billions of sites using this as a primary technique, which Google openly relies upon for serps and KW relevance and so to say that this link building will become obsolete is to put a death sentence on billions of sites, BIG guns as well as the little guys. Also, unless I am confused about your comment on Adwords being the entry, this would be ludicrous, since there are millions of sites for whom PPC is neither financially beneficial or viable. And since Google is in the business of providing relevant content for their customers, why would they want to eliminate such a huge chunk?

May 15, 2008

Olga - Used Cheap Laptops

Good content is at the center of any SEO endeavors, it is not SPAM, which is completely different, in all my experience, Google optimizes their Algo’s to look for that relevant content and as long as you provide that, no way will Google overlook that, because that is their business.

May 15, 2008

Ed

I don’t think adwords would be a pathway to ranking ever, if anything, I think its gonna be the other way around. Why would Google organically rank sites that are paying them for a spot? It doesn’t make any business sense

May 16, 2008

Sasha T.

I don’t agree that Adwords will be your way in. If it happens it will mean that if you have money you’ll earn even more money and if you don’t then you can go to some other search engine looking for rankings.

Google wants relevant results at least that’s what they say but we do have to realize that relevance in search engines is relative. Think about 10 hotels in new york, which would be the most relevant for the key phrase: “new york hotel”? they are all equally relevant because:
a) they are hotels
b) they are in new york

I hope you got my message 🙂

Sasha T.

May 16, 2008

Felex Tan

One thing i don’t understand is some scam site remain the top ranks in google search ,basically how google judge…?

May 16, 2008

Robert

I’ve always thought that the future of search engine ranking lay not in links or keyword placement, but in content analysis.

Google must be working on some AI technology to analyse the quality of content on as site. Such a system would give more prominence to well researched, comprehensive content than to, say, something that only took a few minutes to create.

May 16, 2008

Zafar Ahmed

Google itselfs mentioned somewhere on their blogs that they have nothing against white hat SEO’s. Who the hell are you to say they’ll no longer be in business?

if you look at it from Google’s business point of view, people SEO because of Google and why would Google destroy this industry which was created to market GOOGLE only!

May 16, 2008

Eyad Mix

You’re EXTEREMLY RIGHT!

I think Google will try to change their Bot’s techniques and rules but I think this will directly affect the Black Hat SEO not the White Hat SEO. But both of them will loose their popularity and importance in the upcoming 7 years (as i guess)

May 16, 2008

Melvin

wow, sounds frightening! I hope at the end of all of this that we won’t end up going back as spammers…

May 16, 2008

Best Videos

Great man. Nice to see you coming forward to the paid link policy of google.

Hats off to you man. 😉

May 16, 2008

Best Videos

Because they want to earn.. Earn all money with adwords..
You being an old guy in this industry and dont understand google policies ?? Strange man.

May 16, 2008

Joe

Google has an algo that calculates a site’s quality and relevance to determine how high the site ranks. As an SEO, I’m improving my site’s quality and relevance based on what Google (or any search engine) is looking for. Yes, my end result is to rank high, but I’m doing things that makes my site DESERVE to rank high. If you want to get buff, you lift weighs. If you want to get rich, you work hard, smart, and invest. In all 3 scenarios, you’ve EARNED and are entitled to the fruits of your labor. I don’t call that beating the system or even scamming it. Plus, natural ranking no longer exists, and it is my own personal opinion that good SEO improves the quality of serps, especially in commercial verticals. As long as there are search engines, there will always be SEOs (aka Achievers, Play Makers, Ballers, Winners) that will rise to the top. You may not like it. Matt Cutts may not like it, but we will always exist.

May 16, 2008

Ranked Hard

“Google itselfs mentioned somewhere on their blogs that they have nothing against white hat SEO’s. Who the hell are you to say they’ll no longer be in business?”

He’s Jeremy Shoemaker, sir. A little Jason Calacanis wannabe.

May 16, 2008

Uri

Agreed. I think that the more players you have the more Black hat scenarios you will get. Goolge will never be able to control all of it and their algos will always be broken.

Popular Wealth

You’ve got a very narrow view on what SEO actually is Jeremy. An example, getting your links, rel tags and javascript calls INSIDE your head area would be considered good search engine optimization. Right now you’ve got those sitting above the head section….

a check at seodigger.com shows shoemoney.com has a very small number of top results in google… as you’d expect with crappy seo.

May 16, 2008

themonkeyone

I like this — it seems so damn right. I wouldnt care if you couldnt use SEO — It would be so much LESS work for site owners. Less time working trying to get visitors to your site, more time working on your site — which really helps spread the word of a good site. You dont need SEO anyway if your sites good. Good post shoe i like it!

May 16, 2008

Dave

Zzzzzz….

If SEO has no future, why keep banging on about it?

It’s crap like this that makes this blog an absolute joke.

May 16, 2008

SEO Training

The fact that there are soooo many comments on this post means that it must be a hot topic. SEO will evolve over time with the focus more on content authoring and metrics rather than trying to fool the BIG “G”.

September 7, 2008

Best Videos

If thats a joke then why visit this blog?

May 16, 2008

Best Videos

if google keeps targetting seo companies, then definitely there is no future for SEO.

May 16, 2008

Keith Cash

Very good post. Something we all need to start shifting gears for the future of our sites

May 17, 2008

Goran Website

I cannot see how search engine optimisation can ever be gone. Its exactly what it says optimisation. Maybe the way we do it will be different but it will still be the same. I mean there are only 10 results on the front page of millions of results. I just don’t get it.

We will just adapt, its evolution and its expected.

May 17, 2008

Web Marketeer

Agreed James. I think the key here is that Jeremy isn’t a traditional SEO exponent, and hence he can cast a much more unbiased view. Agreed on adsense. Generally recommend to combine the quest for organic rankings with adwords, as adwords gives you immeadiate placement on your keywords, with meaningful traffic. Analytics is great for keeping track of your traffic. As your pages start ranking organically for chosen keywords, the adwords campaigns can be targeted around other keywords thyen.

May 17, 2008

Dave

Why not?

Laughter’s always a good thing to have.

May 17, 2008

internet marketing

its a branch of marketing and does matter, just Google the corrupt bastards doesn’t like you trying to cheat them, but its ok if you spend 50k on adwords hehe.

May 17, 2008

Jag

Hi shoemoney,

SEO is based on shaky foundation because Google can just change the algorithim and give a slap to anyone at anytime.

That said, I believe there is a place for SEO. Definitely shouldn’t be the only source of traffic generation but useful to have as part of your marketing arsenal.

Google is always looking for relevance and useful content. As long as go towards that direction, you are optimizing for Google. Quality incoming links will still apply now as is the future.

So yes, SEO do have a place. But it shouldn’t be the main focus for online marketers.

Best Videos

Zak Show

I think it depend on advertising not only on SEO. You pay more, you rank more better.

May 19, 2008

Moldova

I also think that SEO will have no impact on the google searches and it will die slowly.

May 19, 2008

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May 19, 2008

Web Marketeer

This thread has really stirred up a storm, and every time I revisit it I pick up on more convincing arguments both for and against. The challenge will always be there to design pages / sites that are both appealing to the visitor and visible to the search engine spiders. So on page optimisation factors will always have to be adressed, coupled to off page optimisation and marketing via link building, etc.

May 21, 2008

Web Marketeer

Identifying popular trends and moulding a marketing campaign around that is traditional marketing. Applying these techniques to the online world is key in getting both popular traffic and getting the search engines to notice you.

May 21, 2008

Web Marketeer

The line between the definitions of SEO and SEM is quite blurry. Personally I like to equate SEO to on-page factors, and SEM to off page factors.

May 21, 2008

Georgia

Google will deny up and down that Adwords influence rankings. I feel otherwise…

May 21, 2008

Paul

So you are saying that Google will only rank sites well if you pay them?

May 21, 2008

Mayank - Make Money Online

What about non commercial sites – why would they go for Adwords?

May 21, 2008

Denny

Shoe you may be onto something. Not sure what though. Maybe Google is just sending a message that there really is no more VooDoo to SEO as the high priced SEO Companies would like potential clients believe! Good SEO “secrets” are for the most part available to anyone willing to dig for them.

Badaei

do you know who’s the spammer.?
Google ..
He spam all of us long time ago..
we smile on it…
why we not use another engine…

January 16, 2010

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January 17, 2010

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May 6, 2013

table protection

What you said made a great deal of sense. But, consider
this, suppose you added a little content? I am not suggesting your content isn’t solid, however what if you added a post title that grabbed people’s attention?
I mean My Definition Of SEO and How The Death Will Play Out –
ShoeMoney Internet Marketing Blog is a little plain.
You should look at Yahoo’s front page and see how they create article titles to get viewers interested. You might try adding a video or a related pic or two to grab people interested about what you’ve got to say.
Just my opinion, it could make your website a little bit more interesting.

May 25, 2013

避孕藥牌子

First off I want to say great blog! I had a quick question in which
I’d like to ask if you do not mind. I was interested to know how you center yourself and clear your thoughts before writing. I’ve had a difficult time clearing my mind in getting my thoughts out.
I truly do enjoy writing but it just seems like the first 10 to
15 minutes are wasted simply just trying to figure out how to begin.
Any recommendations or hints? Appreciate it!